State of Knowledge About Thyroid Cancers in the Era of COVID-19-A Narrative Review.

Thyroid cancer (TC), due to its heterogeneous nature, remains a clinical challenge. Many factors can initiate the carcinogenesis process of various types of TC, which complicates diagnosis and treatment. The presented review gathers current information on specific types of TC, taking into account the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Symmetry Function: The Differences between Active and Non-Active Above-the-Knee Amputees.

The number of patients with unilateral above-knee amputation (AKA) due to non-vascular causes has remained stable over the years, at 0.92 per 1000 people per year. Post-AKA individuals are at risk of experiencing a higher incidence of chronic pain.

Study protocol to assess polypharmacy and comorbidities in lung cancer.

Background: At least half of patients with lung cancer have comorbidities, which can affect treatment decisions and survival. Associated with comorbidity, polypharmacy can also have consequences on patient care. This study will evaluate both polypharmacy and comorbidities in a cohort of hospitalized patients on the administration of chemotherapy and survival.

Pulsed Dose Rate Brachytherapy of Lip Carcinoma: Clinical Outcome and Quality of Life Analysis.

Purpose: Lip carcinoma represents one of the most common types of head and neck cancer. Brachytherapy is a highly effective therapeutic option for all stages of lip cancers. We report our experience of pulsed dose rate brachytherapy (PDR) as treatment of lip carcinoma.

Image-Guided Brachytherapy for Salvage Reirradiation: A Systematic Review.

Background: Local recurrence in gynecological malignancies occurring in a previously irradiated field is a challenging clinical issue. The most frequent curative-intent treatment is salvage surgery. Reirradiation, using three-dimensional image-guided brachytherapy (3D-IGBT), might be a suitable alternative.

Lack of evidence of the correlation between plasma Asymmetrical Dimethylarginine correlation and IMT in type 2 diabetic patients with chronic vascular complication.

Introduction: Patients with type 2 diabetes represent 50% of all sudden cardiac deaths. Disseminated arteriosclerotic lesions are the cause of vascular incidents that cause permanent disability resulting from lower limb amputations.

Objectives: Our study was designed to investigate the relationship between asymmetrical dimethylarginine (ADMA), symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) plasma concentration and intima-media thickness (IMT) in subjects with diabetes mellitus without vascular complications (group A) and a group of diabetic patients diagnosed with diabetes micro- and macroangiopathy (group B).

Analysis of Radiation Dose/Volume Effect Relationship for Anorectal Morbidity in Children Treated for Pelvic Malignancies.

Purpose: To examine dose-volume effect relationships for anorectal morbidity in children treated with image-guided brachytherapy for pelvic tumors.

Methods And Materials: Medical records of all consecutive children with pelvic tumors treated in our center and receiving image-guided pulsed-dose-rate brachytherapy with or without external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) between 2005 and 2019 were reviewed. The effect of the minimal doses to the most exposed 0.

Interaction between the Number of Chemotherapy Cycles and Brachytherapy Dose/Volume Parameters in Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer Patients.

Scarce data exist on concurrent chemotherapy in locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) patients (pts) treated with image-guided adaptive brachytherapy (IGABT). We examined the effect of a number of chemotherapy cycles and their interaction with brachytherapy dose/volume parameters. Clinical records of 209 consecutive pts treated for a LACC were reviewed.

Esophageal brachytherapy: Institut Gustave Roussy's experience.

Purpose: Esophageal cancer is characterized by its propension to local evolution, which conditions prognosis and quality of life. Brachytherapy may be a therapeutic option for all stages of esophageal cancer.

Methods And Materials: This retrospective unicentric study included all consecutive patients treated for an esophageal high-dose-rate brachytherapy in our institution from 1992 to 2018.

[Building the emotional skills of caregivers for a better workplace environment].

Emotional skills refer to the ability to identify, understand, express, use one's emotions and those of others. For caregivers, who are experiencing increasingly stressful work conditions and who are accompanying people going through painful moments in their lives, emotional skills are a valuable tool. They make it easier to take a step back from the professional and personal experience and thus promote a better quality of life at work.

Correlation between pelvic bone marrow radiation dose and acute hematological toxicity in cervical cancer patients treated with concurrent chemoradiation.

Purpose: To evaluate the association between pelvic bone marrow (BM) dose volume parameters and probability of acute hematological toxicity (HT), a cohort of cervical cancer patients receiving definitive chemoradiation (CRT) was assessed.

Materials And Methods: Medical records of patients treated by CRT (45 Gy in 25 fractions, without dose constraints applied to the BM) were reviewed. Baseline and weekly hematological parameters were collected.

Brachytherapy: An overview for clinicians.

Brachytherapy is a specific form of radiotherapy consisting of the precise placement of radioactive sources directly into or next to the tumor. This technique is indicated for patients affected by various types of cancers. It is an optimal tool for delivering very high doses to the tumor focally while minimizing the probability of normal tissue complications.

Receptor GP IIb/IIIa as an Indicator of Risk in Vascular Events.

Type 2 diabetes causes a significant risk of cardiovascular diseases, leading to 70% of deaths in patients with diabetes. The effective treatment of diabetes significantly reduces the risk of requiring the involvement of specialists from various fields of medicine. This research aimed to assess the risk of cardiovascular events based on selected biochemical parameters (glycoprotein [GP] IIb/IIIa, von Willebrand factor [vWf], fibrinogen) and their changes in response to physical exercise.

Trends in response rate and survival in small-cell lung cancer patients between 1997 and 2017.

Introduction: Median survival of small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients is usually around 1 year. The advent of new drugs may have slightly improved their prognosis. We aimed to assess whether SCLC response to chemotherapy and survival had changed over time.

Importance of Technique, Target Selection, Contouring, Dose Prescription, and Dose-Planning in External Beam Radiation Therapy for Cervical Cancer: Evolution of Practice From EMBRACE-I to II.

Purpose: To describe the evolution of external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) from EMBRACE-I (general guidelines for EBRT) to the initial phase of the EMBRACE-II study (detailed protocol for EBRT).

Methods And Materials: EMBRACE-I enrolled 1416 locally advanced cervical cancer patients treated with chemoradiation including image-guided adaptive brachytherapy during 2008 to 2015. From March 2016 until March 2018, 153 patients were enrolled in the ongoing EMBRACE-II study, which involves a comprehensive detailed strategy and accreditation procedure for EBRT target contouring, treatment planning, and image guidance.

Radiobiological optimization comparison between pulse-dose-rate and high-dose-rate brachytherapy in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer.

Purpose: Only scarce data are available on the possibility to include radiobiological optimization as part of the dosimetric process in cervical cancer treated with brachytherapy (BT). We compared dosimetric outcomes of pulse-dose-rate (PDR) and high-dose-rate (HDR)-BT, according to linear-quadratic model.

Methods And Materials: Three-dimensional dosimetric data of 10 consecutive patients with cervical cancer undergoing intracavitary image-guided adaptive PDR-BT after external beam radiation therapy were examined.

Total Reference Air Kerma is Associated with Late Bowel Morbidity in Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer Patients Treated with Image-Guided Adaptive Brachytherapy.

No dose volume parameter has been identified to predict late bowel toxicities in locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) patients treated with image-guided adaptive brachytherapy. We examined the incidence of bowel toxicities according to the total reference air kerma (TRAK) in 260 LACC patients. In both univariate and multivariate analysis, late morbidity positively correlated with a TRAK ≥2 cGy (centigray) at 1 meter, emphasizing the importance of this parameter in term of late bowel morbidity.

Isodose surface volumes in cervix cancer brachytherapy: Change of practice from standard (Point A) to individualized image guided adaptive (EMBRACE I) brachytherapy.

Purpose: To investigate the isodose surface volumes (ISVs) for 85, 75 and 60 Gy EQD2 for locally advanced cervix cancer patients.

Materials And Methods: 1201 patients accrued in the EMBRACE I study were analysed. External beam radiotherapy (EBRT) with concomitant chemotherapy was followed by MR based image-guided adaptive brachytherapy (MR-IGABT).

[New calculation algorithms in brachytherapy for iridium 192 treatments].

Since 1995, the brachytherapy dosimetry protocols follow the methodology recommended by the Task Group 43. This methodology, which has the advantage of being fast, is based on several approximations that are not always valid in clinical conditions. Model-based dose calculation algorithms have recently emerged in treatment planning stations and are considered as a major evolution by allowing for consideration of the patient's finite dimensions, tissue heterogeneities and the presence of high atomic number materials in applicators.

[Why is brachytherapy still essential in 2017?].

These recent years, brachytherapy has benefited from imaging modalities advances. A more systematic use of tomodensitometric, ultrasonographic and MRI images during brachytherapy procedures has allowed an improvement in target and organs at risk assessment as well as their relationship with the applicators. New concepts integrating tumor regression during treatment have been defined and have been clinically validated.

Risk of Late Urinary Complications Following Image Guided Adaptive Brachytherapy for Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer: Refining Bladder Dose-Volume Parameters.

Purpose: To study correlations between dose-volume parameters of the whole bladder and bladder trigone and late urinary toxicity in locally advanced cervical cancer patients treated with pulsed-dose-rate brachytherapy.

Methods And Materials: Patients with locally advanced cervical cancer treated with chemoradiation therapy and pulsed-dose-rate brachytherapy from 2004 to 2015 were included. Cumulative dose-volume parameters of the whole bladder and bladder trigone were converted into 2-Gy/fraction equivalents (EQD2, with α/β = 3 Gy); these parameters, as well as clinical factors, were analyzed as predictors of toxicity in patients without local relapse.

Locally advanced cervical cancer with bladder invasion: clinical outcomes and predictive factors for vesicovaginal fistulae.

Objective: We report outcomes of cervical cancer patients with bladder invasion (CCBI) at diagnosis, with focus on the incidence and predictive factors of vesicovaginal fistula (VVF).

Results: Seventy-one patients were identified. Twenty-one (30%) had para-aortic nodal involvement.

Image-guided adaptive brachytherapy in primary vaginal cancers: A monocentric experience.

Purpose: Primary vaginal cancer is a rare disease for which treatment has been modeled based on cervical cancer. We report our experience in the use of image-guided adaptive brachytherapy (IGABT) in this indication.

Methods And Materials: Patients treated for vaginal cancer with a combination of external beam radiation therapy and IGABT were identified through electronic search.